


Forever

by broadway_and_burbank



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Tuck Everlasting AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 16:38:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17450540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broadway_and_burbank/pseuds/broadway_and_burbank
Summary: Anna says forever. Kristoff has to tell her just how long that is.A Tuck Everlasting AU





	Forever

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea for a Tuck Everlasting au and just wrote this thing in one sitting bc it would not leave me alone

Anna smiled as she stared up at the stars.

Kristoff smiled as he stared at Anna.

He had just finished the fire and sat upon a large, slanted rock as he watched her.

Her red hair flowed down her back, wild and free; it reminded him of her spirit.

In his entire 113 years of life, Kristoff had never laid his eyes on a sight more beautiful.

Anna sighed in relief as she breathed in the night air – it smelled of smoke and pine, and she grinned as she looked back down at Kristoff. His dark eyes were the only things more wonderful than the stars.

A loon began to call off in the distance and Anna’s eyes went back to the trees as if she could locate the animal.

The hoot of an owl followed, then another, and then the loon again. It seemed as if they were communicating.

“You know,” Kristoff began as Anna turned back to him. “I’ve never heard them talk like this. I think it’s because you’re here.”

Anna blushed and bit her lip as she gazed down at him. “I’m sure they do this all the time.”

“They don’t, honest. Listen.” They paused as the creatures’ conversation continued, carrying over the water and through the dark trees. “They’re singing for you, Anna.”

A wide grin broke out across her face as she listened to the song in the dark. Something came over her body and Anna found her hips swaying, her arms reaching above her head. There was something magical in those woods – she could feel it.

Kristoff picked up a thick stick off the ground and grinned as he began to rhythmically tap it against the rock.

A laugh bubbled out of Anna’s throat as she began to dance. Her body moved to the melody in their heads and she smiled at how her family would react if they could see her: hair out, barefoot, only her thin chemise and a single petticoat as cover – not even a corset! – and dancing completely unrestricted, all in the presence of a man.

A man who she loved.

They would be utterly appalled and absolutely scandalized, but Anna wouldn’t have it any other way. She felt entirely _free._

As she pranced and twirled around the fire, Kristoff couldn’t hold back and dropped the stick, jumping up to join her. He grabbed her waist and pulled her close as the two laughed together, grounded in each other’s grasp.

Kristoff wasn’t a dancer, not remotely, but something in Anna inspired him to try.

She always inspired him.

He thought he’d found any and all sources of inspiration half a century ago, but he never even considered that love could be one; not until Anna.

Anna wrapped her arms around Kristoff’s neck as she threw her head back, laughing unabashedly as his steady grip spun her in their shameless, silly dance.

The wind even rustled the leaves to the beat.

Afterward, they lay by the fire together – always together.

Kristoff leaned against the rock as Anna laid her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He kept one arm around her shoulder, keeping her close as if he were worried she would float away. Their hands interlaced instinctively and they gazed into the fire, bodies warm and hearts glowing.

“I wish this moment could last forever,” Anna said, breathing a sigh of contentment.

“Forever?” Kristoff unconsciously gave her hand a slight squeeze. “You want to spend forever with me, Anna?”

“I do.”

Kristoff wished for nothing more than for her to mean it, for it to be true. But she didn’t understand the severity of her statement.

“…forever is a long time. A _really_ long time.”

“I know.” Anna lifted her head to look at him. “All my life, I’ve dreaded that word. I could see my ‘forever’, and I hated it. My future was already planned out and the thought of living that way for my entire life was _suffocating._ ” She smiled and squeezed his hand in return. “But being out here, with you, with your family, I realized that it doesn’t have to be that way! For the first time, I like the idea of forever. I _want_ forever, actually. Just as long as it’s with you.”

She leaned up to kiss him, but suddenly Kristoff pulled back, his hands falling from their embrace. He sat up and Anna followed his lead, slightly wounded.

“Kristoff, what’s-”

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he blurted out. He _needed_ her to know the truth. “It’s about my family…and the thing I swore I wouldn’t say.”

“The secret?” Anna asked, immediately becoming curious and any hurt dissipating in full. “The reason why you don’t want anyone finding out about you?”

He nodded solemnly, but she smiled in return.

“I knew it! You’re…bank robbers! Or gamblers! Or, or – I don’t know, you stole a horse?”

“No, Anna, listen.” Kristoff gripped both her hands in his, trying to stop the hammering in his chest. He looked into the deep lake of her eyes and felt calmer. “You are the only person I’ve _ever_ met who I wanted to know the truth. You deserve to know because…because I love you, Anna.”

_I love you, Anna._

The sentence sat between them, the music of the night suddenly silent. The only sounds were the crackle of the fire and the beating of his heart, and Kristoff thought it was the wrong time to confess his feelings, but not a second later, Anna pounced on him.

Her lips collided with his, and while their kisses before had all been quick and chaste, this kiss was deep and full.

Anna parted her lips, feeling like her heart was going to escape her chest any moment. He _loved_ her! She was getting lightheaded, but she didn’t care.

Kristoff wrapped his arms around her body, now needing to be closer to her. He tried to pour every bit of love he had for her into the kiss, knowing it might be the last time.

Anna finally pulled back, grinning from ear to ear. “I love you, too! Kristoff, _I love you._ And you – you’re the only…” she paused, taking a deep breath. “No matter what your secret is, I promise I will never stop loving you. You’re the only person I feel like I can be myself around. You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to kiss, ever wanted to-” she blushed, looking down at her hands on her lap. “…be with,” she finished, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

As she bit her lip and looked up at him, Kristoff felt himself flush, heat rushing through his entire body. “I…Anna…” he placed a palm to her cheek and Anna leaned into it.

“I like it when you say my name,” she said, once again quiet. “It used to feel all warn out from being yelled so much.” She tried to smile, but one look in his intense eyes and it fell, a shiver going through her body. “But I like when you say it. It feels new. You make me feel new.”

“You have no idea…Anna, you’ve changed me. You…have made life something new again.” Kristoff had been stagnant for so long. Anna had shifted everything, and he couldn’t express how grateful he was.

“Kristoff,” Anna said, boldly placing her hand on his thigh.

He immediately tensed.

Anna couldn’t believe what she was doing, what she was saying, but she loved him, propriety be damned. “I love you _so much._ And I want you more than anything.” She took one of his hands and put it on her lower back, immediately feeling his support as she leaned into him. “No matter what, I am yours forever.”

“I-” Kristoff could barely choke out his words. “If I tell you, things will be different.”

“No.” Shaking her head, Anna sat up on her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Kristoff was both glad and disappointed she removed her hand from his leg.

“I will always be yours.”

“I love you, Anna.”

“Kristoff-”

“So I have to say this. You have to know.” He had to force himself to continue. “Do you remember that giant oak tree where we met?”

Anna smiled and nodded. “Of course.”

“And the…that spring you saw me drink from?”

She nodded again.

“And…remember when I told you I was one hundred and thirteen years old?”

Anna rolled her eyes and smiled, remembering when he’d said that when she’d asked his age. She had laughed and told him to tell her the truth, so he said twenty-one.

But she didn’t understand what those things had to do with each other.

“I was serious. I meant it.” Kristoff didn’t know how else to deliver the news besides be completely upfront.

Anna furrowed her brows. “What?”

“I…Anna, I’m going to stay like this. Like I am right now, but forever.”

At this she pulled her arms back, settling back to the forest floor, utterly confused. “You’re not making any sense.”

“I can’t die. I can’t age. It’s the same for Sven and Ma and Grandpabbie – something happened to us. And I’m going to be _just like this_ until the end of time.”

… _what?_ “Kristoff, I-.”

“Please, just listen.” Kristoff gently gripped her arms, begging her to hear him out. “It’s the spring, Anna. There’s something wrong with the water; it stops you right where you are. That’s why I had to stop you from drinking it – you would stay _exactly_ as you are.”

“I…I don’t-”

There was rustling in the bushes and Anna took her eyes off of Kristoff, who in turn whipped his head back toward the noise.

Then Sven stumbled into the clearing.

If the flask in his hand wasn’t an indication of his drunkenness, his posture and disheveled state more than gave it away.

“Don’t you wish he told you _before_ you promised yourself to him?” he asked Anna, leaning against a tree for balance.

The two lovers stared at him, one in irritation, and the other in confusion.

“Well,” Sven said, pushing himself off the tree and coming closer to them, while continuing to address Anna. “Did he tell you that immortality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? You hear about it at church every Sunday, but believe me when I say it is _nothing_ but a living hell.”

“Sven,” Kristoff warned, turning on his brother.

“What? You wanted her to know.” Sven plopped ungracefully on the ground before taking a swig from his flask. “You said it yourself – she’s only person you wanted to tell. How does that make you feel, Anna? I mean, all these years and you’re the first girl Kristoff has gotten tangled up with; never even touched another woman before you.”

“Leave her alone,” Kristoff said through gritted teeth.

“No, Kristoff, why don’t _you_ leave her alone? You’ve gotten her involved and now it’s only going to end in pain for both of you. You know I’m right.”

“You just don’t want me to have what you lost.” Kristoff regretted what he said the moment it left his mouth. Sven wasn’t usually like this, but he’d been drinking, and he was a sad, angry drunk. Had been for over ninety years. And from the look on his face, Kristoff only made it worse.

“Stop it!” Anna said, looking between the two brothers. She was honestly frustrated at this point – she hated being left in the dark. “And tell me the _truth._ I want to know.”

Kristoff looked to the forest floor, heart falling into his stomach.

Sven just nodded and took another swill before he spoke. “We all had a drink. Even the horse…”

Very soon, Anna would understand: although they had two different definitions of forever, no meaning of the word could ever be used to describe their future together.

She looked back to Kristoff in shock, trying to stop the tears from falling.

Unlike Sven, Kristoff had never _wished_ for death before, but he understood his brother now.

Time could never move fast enough for Anna, and for Kristoff it didn’t exist, but in that moment, as they looked into each other’s eyes in a wretched understanding, it stopped.


End file.
